


Fight Club, I Guess

by AnAngryRat



Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Human, F/M, Fights, Gen, M/M, Private School
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-28
Updated: 2020-10-30
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:14:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 15,703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27239380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnAngryRat/pseuds/AnAngryRat
Summary: Tony is bored completing his high school diploma. He might as well start a fight club with the type kids no one likes.
Relationships: Bruce Banner/Thor, James "Bucky" Barnes/Clint Barton, Natasha Romanov/Sam Wilson, Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Comments: 2
Kudos: 42





	1. Chapter 1

The air was dank and heavy around the basement. The smell of sweat and the harsh iron tang of blood covered every inch of every body in the place. Tony wove through the crowd knowing that the fight currently happening center court was a done deal. Bruce was an unstoppable god when given the chance. He was picking up cash for bets, cash for who wanted to fight next. It was part of the deal. There was a lot of pent up toxic rage that the School of Superior Boys created and here was where Tony let them get it out. It was also where he got the change for paying for his fighter’s scholarships and future college funds. Most were scholarship students without much brains but they didn’t want to leave. Home was worst than this hell hole given the chance. The fighting ring started as an accident. A boy decided that Natasha was just faking it to get some D and she challenged him. Tony gathered a crowd and now he had his own basement. The staff occasionally joined. Mostly collegiate TA’s and groundskeeper’s sons.

Tony collected the money and then took at his place on top of a few abandoned desks to count the winnings and do the math. He unhooked the chalkboard that hung above his head and began to write down the number adjustments. As usual most people didn’t place their bets on Bruce. Idiots. Everyone whose seen Bruce fight knows that he fights as though he might die if he doesn’t win. He’s the scrawniest of Tony’s fighters but the strongest one also. He continues to go and go and go never stopping until the bell has rung. Tony’s seen him fight through a broken nose, a sprained wrist, and once a broken arm. The kid just has that psychotic edge that when hit means he can’t stop.

Tony watched them for a few beats. The sophomore that Bruce is pit against is twice his size and at least six inches taller. Bruce doesn’t let that stop him. He screamed and beat his fists against anything in the surrounding area. The sophomore looked shaken hesitating before coming close. Bruce came at him with his shoulder and knocked him off his feet and on to the ground. He cried out when his head smacked against the concrete pavement. Natasha stepped in.

“Fight’s over.” She said her voice low but projected over the crowd. There were screams of anguish as some rich boys realized they just lost their entire allowance because a six foot six behemoth couldn’t take out five foot five and a hundred pounds soaking wet Bruce Banner. Natasha pulled Bruce gently and firmly away from the sophomore. She raised his hand. Bruce wiped his nose which was bleeding a little. He hunched in on himself again and just like that was the biology geek that Tony befriended in the eighth grade. Tony smiled. The boys who won came to collect their bounty knowing that the house always takes ten percent.

Next fight was Clint and some senior who liked to punch in his words ‘fags’. Tony might actually watch. This one should be interesting to say the least. Their fighting ring consisted of four fighters, Natasha, Clint, Bruce and Tony. There were two fights every Sunday with rotating fighters you could either fight or bet against. If a student would want to fight at the first of every month there was a bid for the maniacs out there of which there were more than Tony had thought possible. He shouldn’t have given the repression that all boys elite schools create and the near cult like mentality of those who thought they were better then the ones on the bottom. Tony wasn’t on the bottom. He was just as rich and caustic as the kids he mocked and looked down upon.

He was just smarter than the system he was brought up into. He was also supposed to be graduating college but the government refused to let him not finish high school so at seventeen in his final year already taking tests for a doctorate because he’s been doing high school and college at the same time and still has extra time to create an underground fight club and befriend a few disadvantaged individuals.

“Prefects!” someone shouted. The senior Clint was fighting paused a look of terror on his face. There was only one power in the entire school that could in fact bring up their expulsion to principal Fury, prefects. Clint took the opportunity to one punch the kid and take his money then run. Tony froze collected all the money caught Natasha by her bra strap as she was running by and stuffed the money into the back of her sports bra. Natasha nodded and slipped out unnoticed as the prefects raided the place. This was the third time this month. They had a snitch somewhere telling them where the fights were located. Tony just knew it. He grabbed his chalkboard and made to leave but got caught by his sleeve. Tony wiped the chalkboard down his shirt obscuring the numbers and names.

“Stop right there Stark,” Steve Rogers head senior prefect said. His face had that dry unamused look that Tony wanted to kiss off.

Tony smiled and cocked out a hip looking under his eyelashes. Rogers flushed. “Anything for you, Steve.”

Rogers crossed his arms and looked down at him intimidatingly. “You’re out after curfew.” 

Tony shrugged and waved his chalk board. “Gee, must have lost track of time doing maths and stuff.”

Rogers sighed. “You’ve got a rather large gathering here for a study session.”

“I’ve got a lot of friends.”

“You have three friends.”

Tony touched his chest chin tilted in offense. “You insult me. Must be because you only have three friends.”

Rogers rolled his eyes. “Come on. Let’s go get your weekly detention.”

Tony pouted. “Cutting out our usual foreplay?”

Rogers blushed his eyes looking to the corner of the room. Tony loved this about him. His good American boy looks and belief. He just wished he wasn’t so straight and narrow. Ruining his profiteering is a real bummer.

“Stark.” Steve coughed.

“Rogers,” Tony purred.

Steve grabbed his hand and dragged towards the door of the basement. “It’s late and I want to go to bed.” Steve grumbled.

Tony tangled their fingers together and swung their hands between them. “Of course, Rogers, gotta have that beauty sleep.”

Clint had climbed out the window and was idling across the ledges when a phantom hand grabbed him and pulled him into a second story room. He courageously screamed at the moment and rolled several times away.

“Shut it!” Bucky hushed waving his hands so that Clint knew to focus on him.

Clint stopped screaming. He looked around. They were in one of the science rooms. There were a lot of science rooms. Clint was here on a sports scholarship that was pulled one summer after his dad boxed his ears one too many times and now he could only hear through hearing aids. He’d been doing the fights since then to keep his place at school. Cause at least when he got punched here it was planned.

A strong hand pushed Clint up onto the desk and Clint opened his thighs welcoming Bucky’s weight. Clint tilted his head expecting a kiss but instead got Bucky’s hands tenderly tracing the bruise that was forming across his cheek. Clint smiled and kissed his palm.

“You should see the other guy,” Clint whispered against his hand.

“I did see the other guy. He’s currently in the infirmary.” Bucky said his lips brushing against Clint’s ear so he could feel every word.

Clint pulled Bucky in by his neck and kissed him. “I’m very good at my job.”

Bucky laughed, his chest shaking with the motion and deepened the kiss. Clint suspected they had some time for a quick make out session before it’s time for bed and Bucky can pretend he isn’t a prefect and Clint can pretend he doesn’t beat the shit out of people for his tuition.

Natasha and Tony met up in their bedroom after Tony got another dressing down from Headmaster Fury. She was sitting on her bed legs crossed and counting cash. There was a lot of it. Tony suspected that she was counting their entire stash.

“What’s up?” he asked sitting on his own bed and beginning to undress.

“We can’t keep doing this.” She said pitching her voice to sound more effeminate. It was something she didn’t do unless it was just him or Clint or Bruce.

Tony took off his shirt and fell against the bed. “We kind of have to.”

“Why can’t you just pay—”

“Not until I’m 25. That’s in my trust.”

Natasha calmly tied the bills all together. “We’re so close.”

Tony nodded. “We need at least three more fight nights. If we get caught again the better. No one comes to ask for money once it’s gone.”

“Only three?” Natasha asked.

“Yeah. Then we’re at 200k for you, Bruce and Clint.”

Natasha nodded her head and placed the money in the hidey-hole in her headboard. She was the lightest sleeper so it made sense to put it there.

“That doesn’t mean we still don’t have six more months of this hell to go.”

Tony whistled. “You’re telling me.”

The next day Bruce was rudely awoken from an unplanned nap on the bleachers during lunch. He had been sprawled out his arms thrown on either side of the metal bench and snoring. He was also drooling. When he woke up he jolted so hard that his bandaged knuckles banged against the metal under his bench and sat up hissing in pain.

“Ow…”

“Sorry, Bruce of Banner, I did not mean to startle you.”

Bruce squinted up at the sunblocking god like figure in front of him. Thor. The transfer student and prefect.

“It’s fine. Do you have anymore questions on the microbiology exam?”

Thor turned and sat down next to Bruce making the bench let out a thunderous boom. “That is not what I have come to talk to you about.”

Bruce pushed back his glasses and scratched his already incredibly messy hair. “Okay, what’s up then?”

“Your wounds,” Thor started.

Bruce honestly felt like every bone in his body hurt but he also was curious at what the sophomore was getting at.

“Yeah.”

“They’re from bullies right?” Thor said looking genuinely uncomfortable.

Bruce shrugged the accusation off and turned to look inside his backpack. “No, I’m just really clumsy, that’s all.”

He pulled out a paper and pen and began writing _fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck_ in as many different codes and languages he knew.

“You seem uncomfortable, but I should tell you it is no shame to be beaten down. I have had my fair share of fights.”

Bruce didn’t want to say that he never lost a fight. Cause he didn’t. Tony called him a little sociopath and given how many kids he’s sent to the hospital Bruce is under the impression that he might be right. “It’s fine, Thor. I’m not in any danger.”

“But…I can see your bruises and the bloody rags around your knuckles, I would like to protect you fair Bruce of Banner.”

Bruce gave him a tight sad smile. It was kinda sweet how this big Nordic transfer student wanted to save him but he also had never been in Bruce’s line of wrath before.

“It really is fine. The only thing I’m worried about is that my student might fail his exams.” Bruce said shoving his notebook back into his backpack.

Thor didn’t look totally convinced but dropped the subject. Bruce shouldered on his tortoise shell of a backpack that when weighed was at least fifty pounds. “Come on let’s get some lunch I’m starved.”

Thor laughed and lifted the bag off of Bruce’s shoulders easily. “I am too.” He shouldered Bruce’s backpack and they walked into the dining hall which was serving tacos.

Tony expertly flicked rubber bands at the back of the neck of Tommy Ellens who had purposefully and angrily deadnamed Natasha earlier that day. It was a highly amusing activity during sixth period English. They were reading Hamlet and Tony had already written his essay for the end of the course material this morning when he woke up at three a.m. and wandered into the library as was his usual habit.

The fifth rubber band that hit the back of his neck had Tommy in a full rage. He flipped around just missing Tony sitting up tall and throwing his book open. The picture of innocence.

“Fuck off Stark!” Tommy snarled in a whisper.

Tony widened his eyes and looked around. He ended up catching Steve’s bland and unimpressed eye. He knew. Steve also didn’t like bullies and was very LGBTQIA friendly despite his high standing amongst all their peers. Probably because he seemed straight as a board. Tony knew better. Steve returned his attention to the book and the teacher tapped Tommy’s table forcing him to turn around. Tony flicked four more rubber bands at the back of his neck before class was over. As soon as he was in the hallway Tommy made his displeasure known. He grabbed Tony by the shoulder and slammed him into a locker.

“Look faggot,” he said coming in close enough that Tony could smell his rancid breath.

Tony wrinkled his nose and looked over Tommy’s shoulder to see if he could see any of his cohorts. Tommy’s hand snaked surprisingly around his throat and forced him to make eye contact.

“Look at me when I’m talking to you.”

Tony was deeply unimpressed. “I am looking at you.”

Tommy pulled back his fist but a strong hand came up to stop him from punching Tony’s pretty face.

“Mr. Ellens you’ve used both inappropriate language and were about to assault a classmate am I correct?” Steve said. Tommy let go of Tony’s neck.

Tony hooked his foot behind Tommy’s knee and pulled it toward him and Tommy knelt in front of him. Tony stepped on the foot stool and then on it’s shoulder before gliding gently down onto the ground.

“Thank you, Rogers,” Tony called over his shoulder heading out into the fading sunlight. Steve caught up to him and Tony was mildly annoyed that he was able to match their paces together. It shouldn’t have been so endearing.

“What’d he do?” Steve asked. He had pulled off the school blazer and was currently walking around with his thumbs hooked under his suspenders and his shirt sleeves rolled up over some delicious forearms.

“What’s Ms. Romanov’s name?” Tony asked. He’d never felt the need to confront Steve on this before. He was relatively a neutral playing field despite his need to ruin everything Tony is actively trying to do. _Three more weeks…_

“Natasha?” Steve was genuinely bemused. Tony hid a smile behind his hand wiping at his mouth.

“Not a lot of people respect that.”

Steve nodded his head oddly understanding. Though from what Tony had picked up from their short two year stint (Steve was drafted into the football team during Sophomore year) he didn’t like bullies and thought the best way to keep peace at the repressed testosterone school for jack asses was to be a prefect. It wasn’t his fault that he happened to be a police man. Not at all.

“There have been a lot of rumors about a fight club here.”

“Rule number one we don’t talk about fight club,” Tony quoted automatically. Their little cage fights didn’t have such rules, they needed to make a profit after all.

“Hardy-har-har-har,” Steve intoned blandly. “Look. I just don’t like the idea of us going out there and getting hurt for the stupid purpose of trying to prove something.”

“Or take down the hypermasculine system that was promised to us by murdering capitalism.” Tony said with a shrug.

Steve snorted. “You a commie?”

“Socialist.”

Steve scratched his head. “I prefer democracy in it’s purer form.”

Tony turned around suddenly interested, he started walking backwards. “Democratic socialist?”

Steve shrugged. “I can get behind that. It’s obvious that things are currently broken.”

Tony’s eyes lit up. “Yeah, I’m currently getting my PhD in Engineering but after that I’m planning on trying to run for a government position and getting another degree in polisci…”

Steve was looking at him eyes wide and trustful. Tony couldn’t finish. He had so many plans. The first was not getting expelled for creating a fight club. The second was seeing all his friends financially stable and happy. The third was to climb the political ladder until he was in a high ranking position and redesign the entirety of the USA. A lot more complicated than the first two but also relied heavily on the first two so that he would still be a viable candidate for senate with no record of arrest. Which is what happened once he was expelled for creating a fight club.

“And?” Steve prompted.

Tony turned back around and crossed his arms. “And nothing. What do you want to do?”

“I want to go to art school.”

That surprised him enough to actually stop. “Yeah?”

Steve smiled and it wasn’t for show it was his genuine pleasure at having his passion acknowledged. “Yeah.”

“That’s fantastic!” Tony cheered. Steve nodded and bit his lip. They continued walking in silence.

“You redirected me.” Steve said once they were close to the courtyard where Tony could see his group huddled together. Clint was trying to throw cheerios into Natasha’s mouth and Bruce was sprawled out snoring.

“As all politician’s are supposed to,” Tony said and then jogged away.

Natasha sat in the common room after dinner reading one of her favorite books, _Lolita_. She heard another body sit close to her and open their own book. She continued reading with more ferocity. When someone pulled this shit she had to look more fearsome. More intimidating. More…masculine.

“That’s one of my favorites,” a smooth masculine voice said gently. Natasha looked up. She had put on makeup today. She didn’t want to regret it. She knows Tommy probably got something from Tony and then some. She wanted it to be only Tommy.

Sam Wilson smiled when she met his gaze. “I like to read books that make me feel terrible.” He said his smile growing wider. Natasha tried not to flush. He had a beautiful jawline and the kindness in his eyes was upsetting.

“I do too.” She said returning her gaze neutrally to the book.

“Have you ever read _I’m Thinking of Ending Things_ by Iain Reid?” Sam asked.

Sam was a prefect. Natasha told herself. “I listened to the audiobook.”

“So, did I! It was fucking creepy right?”

Natasha set down her book and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “Yeah. I prefer how haunting _We Have Always Lived in This Castle_ is though. I like the never-ending sense of foreboding.”

Sam pulled out his phone. “Haven’t heard of that one. I’ll add it to my list. Have you read _Hex?_ ”

“No.”

“Totally recommend it has like a _Pet Semetary_ feel to it.”

Natasha nodded and then boldly asked. “I’ll give you my number so you can link me to it.”

Sam was grinning toothily. “Of course.” He handed his phone over.

Natasha typed her number quickly in. “Now leave me alone.” She said her voice like the snap of a tree branch.

“Gotcha. Thanks, Natahsa.”

Natasha didn’t look up from her book. “No problem, Wilson.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> That escalated quickly.

The four of them congregated in Natasha and Tony’s room after lights out. Clint had climbed through the window and Bruce had just set up his spare sleeping bag under Tony’s bed. He had a room with Jacob Williams and that kid was not only a light sleeper but also forgot often that he had a roommate. So a few blankets stuffed in the right place would fool him. Clint on the other hand had fucking Justin Hammer. That little pretentious fuck would not shut up and always needed Clint to be there to hear his theories on how he was going to finally beat Tony for valedictorian.

Tony cracked his neck and look at the spread sheet he’d printed out. “Natasha, I’ll let you give them the news.”

“Only three more fights then we are done.”

Bruce and Clint looked excited.

“That means that we still have to have the bidding war in February, but after that we are home free my boys,” Tony said.

“Sweet!”

“No more bruises or sprained joints,” Bruce sighed. He was looking a little worse for wear.

“Yep.” Tony said. “This week it’s going to be Obadiah Stane?”

Natasha and Tony shared a look. “And Tommy Ellens.”

“Looks like someone wanted their ass kicked.” Natasha said cracking her knuckles.

“Yeah, I just have to fight the pervy, creepy, economics TA…” Tony muttered.

“What are the starting bets,” Bruce asked. He was the teller whenever Tony was fighting. “three hundred on Nat and one hundred on me. There’s eight hundred on Tommy and twelve hundred on Obadiah.”

Clint whistled. Bruce gripped his hair. “What the fuck?”

Natasha stared at him. Tony looked away. “Obadiah put eight hundred on himself.”

“He’d going to cheat.” Nat whispered.

Tony grimaced. “Yeah.”

“You could throw it.” Clint suggested. “We’d still get ten perecent.”

Bruce shook his head. “We’d still lose money and we can’t if we want to end by February, right?”

“Yep,” Tony popped his ‘p’. That’s all there is but before we head off to watch _The Bye Bye Man_ , Bruce status check?”

“I’ll be fine by my next round.”

“Clint, Bucky check,” Natasha asked.

Clint saluted. “Hot as ever still quiet and kissing me.”

“’Bucky check?’” Tony repeated scandalized.

“They’ve been dating for a month now, I thought you knew,” Nat said. Tony held up a finger.

“I am sickened and saddened by this lack of trust. But mostly,” Tony sniffed, “I am disgusted that no one told me so we could use this as a spy opportunity.”

“What?” Clint squeaked.

“Look there’s a snitch telling the prefects where the fights are happening. We’ve been lucky that they only come after the second round but they’ve been getting earlier and earlier…”

“Bucky ain’t a snitch.”

“But,” Tony said pointing a finger under Clint’s nose, “he might know who is.”

Clint batted Tony’s finger away. “Fine I’ll look into it.”

“Thank you.” Tony said sitting down next to Bruce.

Bruce leaned over and turned off the lights then Natasha hit play on Tony’s laptop that he’d hooked up to a hand made projector. Tony was just that good sometimes.

Clint stared up at the sky seeing god as was his usual post Bucky related orgasm daze. They had ended up in the large wooded area behind the schools soccer field. About a mile away was the edge of the campus and the start of the small college town sandwiched between the private school and a private college. For all the rich kids. Clint lived there in one of the the shitty over priced apartments with his alcoholic father and doormat stoner of a brother. At least at Pearsons School for Superior Boys he chose when and where he'd get the shit beat out of him. Here he had Natasha, Tony, and Bruce. He had also kind of had Thor and…Bucky nuzzled in. Clint smiled and curled into him.

He needed to be a spy right now but the sun was warm and being away from home and teachers was so right. He must have stiffened up somewhat because Bucky pushed up onto his elbows. “What's wrong?”

Clint licked his lips. He was a spy like James Bond. He could do this. “Who's telling you guys where the fights are happening?” Clint blurted. He winced. Smooth.

Bucky sat up and looked away from Clint. “Is that why you asked me out here?”

Clint pushed up onto his elbows and bounced his knee nervously. “No. I just remembered that I was supposed to ask you…like…” it was Friday which was why there was no soccer practice currently. “Three days ago.”

“God you're such a fucking idiot.” Bucky muttered placing his head in his hands. Clint flinched and started getting dressed.

“Thanks. You didn’t even have to answer.” Clint grumbled grabbing his jacket and walking away.

“Clint,” Bucky called.   
Clint continued walking flicking on his jacket over his unbuttoned shirt. Bucky grabbed his arm.

“Clint come on.”

“I ask you one question about a school appointed position that you don't get paid for and I expect to be lied to and instead get called stupid.” Clint snapped pulling his arm away.

“It just looked like—” Bucky tried.

Clint pushed a hand through his hair. “What could it possibly look like Bucky? We've been sleeping together for months and Ive never once asked you about this shit. I ask once and suddenly our entire relationship is a lie?”

“It was a gut reaction.”

“Well it hurt!” Clint shouted. The air grew silent and Clint realized how exposed they were to the other students milling about. Bucky crossed his arms immediately going on the offensive. Clint rolled his eyes and walked away. It wasn’t like he didn’t have things to plan.

Natasha patted Clint's back as he sobbed into his second pint of Ben and Jerry's. Tony dropped off his backpack surprised by the pity party that was in his room. He had been out for his Saturday counseling session at Berkeley about a three hour drive from there. Bruce was pulling up Paw Patrol and playing Clint's favorite episode.

“He called me a fucking idiot.” Clint cried around a mouth full of chunky monkey.

Natasha nodded and continued petting him. “We know.”

“Um…” Tony started.

“Look at what you did,” Natasha scolded.

“ _I_ did?” Tony said sitting next to Clint and handing him some tissues to blow his nose on. 

“Bucky and I had a fight,” Clint sniffled.

“Poor baby,” Tony sympathized patting Clint's back. He was actually mildly relieved. Maybe if they broke up Tony wouldn’t have to be constantly looking over his shoulder wondering when the VP Maria Hill was going to show up and expel him.

“It's because you asked Clint to do recon.” Natasha told Tony grimly.

Now Tony felt guilty. Great. He put his head on Clint's shoulder and patted Clint more throughly. “Poor baby.”

“Look,” Bruce said, “Paw Patrols on.”

“Bucky used to watch this with me.” Clint wailed around a spoon in his mouth.

“Really?” Natasha asked. Paw Patrol was something that they suffered through for Clint when he was having a bad day.

“Yeah, he wants to be a detective.” Clint said. “He thinks the puppies are cute.”

Tony turned to Bruce. “Put on the Land Before Time two.”

Clint perked up. “Chomper!”

“Yeah,” Tony said starting his pity pats again. “Chomper just for you.”

Sunday night was tense. Tony watched Nat finish up her fight a little too quickly. Tony swallowed he didn’t have time over the last week while finishing up his thesis on bio mechanical engineering to actually look into what Stane was planning. Not that anyone would tell him if he asked around. He might have a lot of money but his pissy holier than thou attitude tended to push other people away… Or at least that's what he thinks might have happened. He didn’t like his peers anyway. At least he had Nat. Clint's forgiven him. Bruce maybe…Tony pushed his hair back from his face. God he was starting to depress himself.

“Fight over,” Clint called.

Tony rolled his neck and stood on the side of their haphazard ring set up deep into the wooded outskirts around the school. Stane stood next to him and smirked. Tony ignored him and checked the wrapping around his hands. Tight. Bruce was better at it than him. The winner was announced and the crowd shifted getting their debts and money exchanged. Tony took a deep breath and stood taller. Stane grabbed his ass then proceeded him into the cardboard strewn ring.

Tony gritted his jaw and walked in. Stane walked around the ring jostling the crowd. Tony squared his shoulders and waited. He had a feeling that Stane was the type to punch first. Three seconds later and he was right. Except Stane had a roll of quarters in his fist and Tony felt his brain smash against the side of his skull and bit into his cheek. His entire body jolted to the side and he fell harshly to the ground. Before he could even get his wits about him and assess the damage of his concussion, he felt a foot collide with his ribs. Tony coughed and Stane turned his back to jeer the crowd. Tony could kind of hear Clint's voice counting down. Time to end this. Tony pushed up onto his knees. When Stane turned around Tony grabbed his ankle and pulled it toward himself and up. Stane landed on his back the air knocked out of him. Tony hopped up on his feet and his vision blurred but he already knew what he had to do. He pulled a knee up stomped into Stane’s solar plexus. Stane punched his calf to try and remove his foot but Tony grabbed the arm and twisted. The pop of his shoulder dislocating bounced off the walls. The crowd was dead silent. Clint counted and then it was over. Stane was screaming by the time Tony walked off. He spat blood next to Stane’s face on his way out.

The fights usually lasted longer but in the silence of Stane’s screams people stood still parting to let Tony through. Tony spat again some of the flesh from his cheek came out. His eyes blurred and his stomach roiled. He kept moving until he fell against a tree. He didn’t think he could walk his right leg was collapsing on itself. His eyelids felt heavy. Someone was shouting. His eyes closed.

“Tony.” Natasha. “Come on. The prefects…”

“Go,” Tony slurred. “I think I need the hospital.”

Natasha stared at him. “What happened?”

“He had a roll of quarters in his fist.” Tonys ribs hurt. “Go. Keep Bruce safe.”

Natasha gripped his neck and then let go. “Okay.” She was gone.

Tony closed his eyes and let the pain overtake him.

Bruce snuck back into the woods to look for Tony. Clint and Natasha were forced to cover for Tony’s disappearance and Bruce was the only one with a shit enough roommate to get away with sneaking into the woods. Natasha had vaguely described where to go but Bruce was also dodging around prefects who were searching for some of the drunken stragglers. Where the fuck was he? Did he get picked up? That wouldn’t be so bad, but the way Natasha described his unseeing eyes made Bruce worry. He’d had his fair share of concussions but the horrid ringing noise that came after Stane had knocked Tony down was still blasting through his ears. A roll of quarters, holy shit. Clint and Natasha couldn’t watch as well in the woods given the lack of lighting and crowd control of open areas. Even then it would have been hard to see when and how Stane got the quarters in the ring. Fuck. Bruce stopped and leaned against a tree.

He just wanted to find his friend. His possibly dead friend. Oh god…What if Tony’s brain started bleeding and now he’s just a corpse they left in the woods. Jesus. Bruce was shaking and placed his hands over his eyes. He had to toughen up. He could beat up a kid three times his size he could find Tony in the woods with out a flashlight and not get caught. Bruce nodded and started to stand up but was caught blinded by someone else’s flashlight.

“Bruce of Banner?” Thor asked.

Bruce froze and debated his options. “Uh…”

Thor lowered his flashlight. “What are you doing out here? Are you in danger?”

“Yes,” Bruce said thinking of detention. “No!” he corrected. “Um…I need help.”

Thor came closer and Bruce felt trapped. His adrenaline spiked and the urge…oh the urge, to hurt was crashing upon him. He hunched inward. Thor gently put a hand on his shoulder.

“Help with what my friend?”

“S-someone’s lost in the woods…and I think he’s hurt.” Bruce said vaguely.

Thor’s face closed up. “Were you part of that fighting ring?”

“No! Of course not.” Bruce’s voice echoed and more people came in. Bruce’s chest tightened as he saw Rogers, Wilson, and Rumlow round in on him. His fingers curled into his palms and his muscles tightened in his shoulders and legs. He couldn’t let it out. The anxiety clawing at his throat and head. He couldn’t…

“What’s going on?” Rogers said always the voice of authority.

“My friend here is helping me look for a missing student,” Thor covered still looking at Bruce. Bruce heaved out a shaky breath and tried to unclench. They were all so close.

“Why are they out of their rooms?” Rumlow asked.

“The student is presumed injured.” Thor continued.

“Okay, Banner, who is it?” Rogers asked crossing his arms.

Bruce couldn’t look at them and felt an embarrassing shake in his chin. There was too much happening to many lights and he wanted pain and a scream was building in his throat. Some how through all that he was able to speak.

“T-t-tony St-s-stark.”

Rogers stepped back and grabbed Thor to pull him back too. The relief was overwhelming and Bruce was able to breath again as his cage opened up.

“Tony Stark, is out here, incapacitated.” Wilson clarified.

“Y-yeah. I was going over to his room for a sleep over,” Bruce knew this was common enough that the prefects wouldn’t report it. Hell, even Thor talked about him and T’challa sleeping over at Rogers’ and Wilson’s rooms.

“He wasn’t there.” Rogers prompted.

“No. Natasha was worried since she said that he’d been threatened earlier.”

Steve nodded. “Okay go back to your dorm room, we’ll find him.”

“ _No!_ ” Bruce shouted. His shoulders straightened and his body was tensed ready for a fight. The four other boys took an instinctual step backwards. Bruce shook himself. “I’m really worried. It’s kinda cold and what if he’s dead.” His voice was quieter and his shoulders wrapped around his heart once again.

Rogers and Thor exchanged a look. “How about I stay with you, my friend,” Thor said amicably, “And we wait for the other prefects to call and tell us they found him.”

Bruce bit his lip and looked at his palms his fingernails had sliced into them and the blood was already coagulating. “Okay.”

Thor smiled and turned to sit against the tree. Bruce slowly lowered with him and barely noticed the others walking off. He placed a comforting hand on Bruce’s head once Bruce had fully curled in on himself. “I’m sure he’s well and healthy. Stark is always ahead of us.”

Bruce nodded and hoped that Thor didn’t know how right he was.

One of the prefects found Tony thirty minutes later passed out on the soccer fields. Steve ran up and let Hank go to call back the prefects and call it a night. Tony was laying face down an arm pressed against his belly and the other on his side as if his consciousness left him between one step and the next. Shit. Steve flipped him around gently and took his pulse. Steady. Steve knew that all the CPR and First Aid movies told him not to move trauma victims but… something about Tony’s bloody mouth and pale skin irked him so he picked him up bridal style and called 911.

Natasha looked at Tony who was staring up at the ceiling. He’d been put on bed rest for at least three days and was forced to wear a boot because he had a crack in his tibia. He also was having trouble breathing due to cracked ribs. She was deeply unsettled but how calmly he was taking this. They’d seen concussions, usually mild, and cracked ribs, and sprained wrists and ankles. The bloody mouths and noses and cheeks were par for the course. They had never spent twenty-four hours under observation in a hospital.

Bruce had gotten a broken arm once and that had been the extent of their hospital visits. Natasha was a master of superglue if any of them had cuts that might need stitches but other than that…nothing. In the two years of fighting ring no one had been as fucked up as Tony currently was. Natasha frowned.

“…At least I’ve been able to finish my college course work and I’ve finished all possible assignments I could have for the next month in all my classes but the never ending sense of boredom is what is truly driving me mad,” Tony whined.

“You can’t stand up with out staring at the floor for four minutes to stop yourself from vomiting.” Natasha intoned. She leaned back against her bed post.

“Well, yeah but it’s getting better.”

Natasha didn’t know how to respond and turned on their projector and started Space Odyssey again. She wasn’t a fan but it made Tony happy. He was smiling as the opening shots played his head laying on his pillow. The blood vessels of his right eye broke when Stane took him out. It appeared glassy when he was watching things and it took Natasha awhile to realize that it was because he was always dizzy, despite his rebuttals.

She got up. “I’m gonna go get dinner, want anything?”

Tony took just a little too long to answer her. “No. I’ve got Jamba Juice.”

She nodded and left him to his movie. Something wasn’t right. If anyone was planning to cheat they would have done it ages ago. The fact that it was happening right now when the prefects were closing in ever closer on their fights meant something. She had to find out what.

Natasha was walking the pathway to the cafeteria when Sam Wilson waved to her from a table outside. She looked up and nodded but didn’t stop. Sam instead stood up and walked with her inside.

“I’m sorry about what happened with Tony,” He said in greeting.

Natasha raised an eyebrow.

“I know you two are close.”

That was obvious. Natasha tilted her head in acknowledgement. She wasn’t in the mood to talk to someone who might be planning to hurt them.

“I hope you’re doing okay.”

“I’m fine, Wilson.” Natasha said curtly grabbing two food trays. She was at least going to get Tony some pudding if nothing else. She was also certain he thought he had yesterday’s Jamba Juice from when Natasha visited him in the hospital.

Sam was quiet still following her through the food line. Natasha was waiting to pay before she bit the hook.

“What?” she needed to get this over with and start trying to find more…less queer friends. She was certain the student body was pissed about something. She couldn’t put her finger on it but then again she wasn’t talked around in locker rooms. They never spoke to her. They spoke _about_ her but nothing more nefarious than actual bigotry… Sam was looking at her expectantly.

Natasha was also at the front of the line. She rarely fell down mental rabbit holes that badly. Must be the stress. She sighed and swiped her food card twice and continued out with her trays.

“Nat?”

Natasha looked up trying to recall what Sam was saying. “I have.” She said at last. “I liked it.” She had finished _Hex_ while on the bus to Tony listening to it on audio.

Sam smiled. “That’s great.”

“Have you read any Shirley Jackson yet?” Natasha asked. Her jaw tightened and she hid a wince. Damn him. Being so easy to talk to. So distracting. So handsome.

“Yeah, I blew through the witchy castle one.”

“It’s a quick read.” Natasha agreed walking back to the dorms. Sam kept pace with her. She was surprised by his patience. She wasn’t as reticent over text.

“It’s certainly spooky.”

“Marybeth is my spirit animal,” Natasha said with a wicked grin.

Sam let out a little chuff of laughter. “I can see that.”

They reached the entry way and Sam the gentleman held the door for her as she walked in. “Thanks.”

“No problem. See you later?” he asked. Natasha looked into his large brown hopeful eyes and her mouth moved before her brain came to the conclusion.

“Of course.”

Clint was curled up on one of the top branches of the maple trees that were scattered across the quad. He tapped his pencil against his notebook deeply troubled by how hard his algebra 2 homework was. Three equation solving things… He couldn’t tell X from Z. Clint banged his head with his notebook. He understood physics. He understood geometry. It’s what made him so good at archery but god forbid he touches more complex algebra. He put that notebook away and pulled out his history book. At least it was just boring not infuriating.

“Clint.”

Clint’s hand crumpled the page of his end of chapter questions he’d been answering.

“Come on, just look at me.”

Clint glared at his homework.

“Fine. I’ll climb up there.”

“Don’t bother, I’m not worth it.” Clint said.

There was some rustling of branches and grunting. “Oh, you’re worth it.”

“You just want sex.” Clint closed his history book and placed it back into his back pack zipping it all up. He wasn’t getting any homework done today.

“I do not want sex, Clint.” He sounded much closer than before.

Clint finally turned his head to look at Bucky and found himself nose to nose with him. Bucky was smiling. His hair was curling from sweat.

“Hey,” Clint said reaching out a hand.

Bucky took it and let Clint pull him onto the branch. Once he was settled it appeared that Bucky was going to talk something he hadn’t been very inclined to do before.

“I’ve missed you.” Bucky said.

Clint didn’t answer. He missed him too.

“Look. I want you. I want to spend time with you again. I’m sorry I overreacted and shoved you away.”

Clint felt his eyes burn. He wasn’t going to cry. He was an adult and a spy. Yeah. He’d also broken his fingers against a guys face and just let it go. He sat up. “I’m sorry too. I don’t want you to choose between your friends and me.”

Bucky put his hands on Clint’s knees. “They know about the fights because we’ve been getting anonymous spam texts at various times in the night.”

Clint frowned. “That’s weird.”

Bucky shrugged. “I know. I only know they happen on Sunday’s. Today we got a text saying there would be some kind of bidding war on the first.”

“Things have been weird. There’s you guys then what happened with Tony.”

“Tony’s fighting?” Bucky said incredulous.

Clint rolled his eyes. Bucky came from a similar side of town as Clint but he tended to really, really hate rich people. “Yes. Why else did he have a major concussion?”

“I thought he got mugged.”

“Bucky you were there breaking up the fights.”

“Well yeah… but I never thought…”

Clint waved away whatever he was going to say. “Whatever. Things have been unusually aggressive and that’s saying something considering this is a fighting ring of four people who the school want to kick their asses.”

“No one wants to kick your ass.”

Clint squinted at him. “Do you know how many times someone’s stolen my hearing aids?”

Bucky looked horrified. “Oh.”

“Yeah. Shit sucks when your daddy ain’t rich and you can’t be on the school’s various sports teams.”

“Sorry.”

Clint waved it away. “It’s fine. Nothing compared to Nat or Bruce.”

Bucky looked away. “Is there any way I can help?”

“You could be my boyfriend?”

Bucky’s shoulders shook in his silent laughter. “Of course, I’ll be your boyfriend.”

Clint smiled and tangled their fingers together over his knees. “Thanks.”

Tony walked to the library late Thursday night despite Natasha’s protests. He needed to work. Or read. Do something. He limped along hoping that Natasha had fallen asleep.

“You should be resting.”

Tony whirled around and stumbled. Man, concussions suck. “Hey, Rogers. I heard you heroically cradled me to your chest.”

Rogers stood with his hands on his hips. “Where are you going?”

“Library. I’m bored.”

“Why am I not surprised,” Steve said dryly.

Tony shrugged and continued his journey. “Stop me or don’t at least I won’t be stuck in bed.”

Steve caught stride. “I’ll join you, how about that.”

“Don’t you have like prefect duties to do?” Tony asked trying to speed up and failing because his boot was heavy and made his steps uneven.

“My shift ended.” Steve checked his watch. “Thirty-seconds ago, so I’m free.”

Tony laughed. “I haven’t seen someone with a normal watch in so long.”

Steve covered his practical leather watch with his sleeve self-consciously. “Whatever.”

“I like it. Must be freeing knowing my father’s company isn’t monitoring you everywhere you go.” Tony said.

Steve gave him an unfathomable look. Tony paused outside the doors of the library.

“Why were you out on the fields the other night?”

Tony opened the heavy wooden door and gestured Steve inside. “What does that have to do with my dad?”

“I’m feeling a connection between your daddy issues, the fight ring everyone knows about but no one talks about and you.”

Tony snorted. “My daddy beats me. So do half the other dads in this shit hole. That has nothing to do with me and a myth.”

“We know that it exists. We’ve seen proof of gatherings,” Steve countered following Tony through the lobby to the technical manuals.

“They could be sick raves. I’m known for throwing some excellent summer bashes, if you ever want to join.” Tony said picking one up on Java script then putting it back. He wanted something more physical than coding.

“Yes, the parties that contain only a few hundred students, none of them your friends that you use to wreck daddy’s house.”

Tony raised an eyebrow looking up from a text on motorcycle engines. “We keep calling Howard daddy and things are just going to get too kinky for me Steve.’

Steve pinched the bridge of his nose. “I know the summer parties aren’t for your enjoyment because I’ve gone to a few and you’re never there.”

Tony almost dropped his book on robotics. “You were looking for me?”

Steve licked his lips and looked heavenward asking for nonexistent help. “Of course, I was looking for you. I hate parties, you’re closed off and aloof and the only knowledge I have on you is from newspapers and gossip. You also have been making being a prefect increasingly hard on our sleep schedules for creating a fighting ring that ‘doesn’t exist’.”

“It’s starting to sound like you like me Steve.” Tony said clutching the robotics book as a shield.

Steve outright laughed this time. “Yes! I like you. A lot against my better judgement, given that you run an open setting for our peers to hurt each other as violently as possible.”

Tony didn’t know what to say to that. He was feeling a lot of things right now that he had no idea how to parse out.

He walked past Steve. “I found my book.”

Steve looked at him sadly. “That’s all I have to say?”

Tony turned away unable to look him in the eye. “You don’t trust me and you think I’m doing immoral and disgusting things.”

“I just want to know why?” Steve begged. “There has to be an underlying reason than violence and retribution, Tony. I’ve heard you’re protest to school speakers and your cries for justice. I know there’s something there that you just aren’t telling me.”

“The truth is you’re wrong. About everything. I am a pretty awful human being.” Tony told him his words quiet and echoed hideously around the library’s lobby. He hobbled away faster unable face whatever Steve’s pretty puppy dog face would say about that.

Bruce was having a moment that Tony called his space cadet time. In which his eyes stare up at the sky and his mind begins calculating the chemical composition of stars and grass. He could spend hours doing so. At the moment he was thinking about the migration of clouds and the chances of rain coming from the heavy gray sky. Bruce felt unstable. He always felt unstable but it was like being in the middle of an earthquake then the ground opens up. It hasn't eaten him yet but he can see the yawning mouth. Coming for him. Bruce was certain that more people were looking at them. More people were whispering. It must be a money thing. It's always a money thing with these people. He couldn’t parse out who. He had like three friends and a couple of prefects he tutored.

“Bruce!”

Thor probably thought they were friends. Bruce didn’t know. He didn’t know shit. A drop of rain hit his head but he felt no need to move. He wondered if the rain would pass to the ocean or down the valley toward LA.

“Bruce, its raining!”

There was a lot of rain now. Bruce should move. He was getting wet. He didn’t bring his backpack out given it was a Saturday morning… Maybe he should move. He closed his eyes. The rain felt good. He could feel his lips pulling into a neutral smile. Acid rain be damned.

A figure stood over him blocking out the gray sky and covering him in shade and warmth. A fat droplet fell from a strand of hair that had fallen out of his bun. Bruce smiled at him.

“Thor,” he greeted. “Would you like to join?”

Thor looked towards the safety and coverage of their dorms. “Aye.” He said plopping down next to Bruce on the increasingly muddy ground.

“I see you are enjoying the weather,” Thor said once he was settled.

Bruce laid his head on his knees and let the rain patter against his face. “You don’t?”

“I prefer the thunderstorms of my home,” Thor said. Bruce opened an eye to look at him. This was the first time Thor had even spoken of being home sick.

“I love thunderstorms,” Bruce agreed. “You can’t feel the rain safely though.”

“I suppose.” Thor was quiet for a long moment and Bruce closed his eyes once again expanding his awareness to the shirt sticking to his skin and the slow rivulets of water falling from his hair.

“You…know of the fights that happen.” Thor stated.

Bruce felt too at peace in the murmur of the rain to let open ended accusation get to him. “Yeah.”

Thor scooted closer. His large muscled body from all those hours playing baseball and wrestling released heat the same way gamma radiation did. Bruce swayed toward him. The air was becoming colder but he was a Minnesota boy and it would have to get a lot colder for him to actually be troubled.

“Would you mind telling me about them?”

“Why do you want to know?”

Thor sat back on his hands setting his wide shoulders close to Bruce’s head and he took the invitation. Thor’s arms tensed then released. “There’s something sickening in an unmonitored fight. You saw what happened to your friend.”

Bruce nodded. “I’ll make you a promise,” Bruce said.

“What kind of promise,” Thor’s voice had deepened and his breath skated over Bruce’s hair.

“I’ll give you a hint if you drop the topic.”

Thor shifted. Always restless. “Are you in danger if you tell me something?”

Bruce snorted and the movement broke his peace. He pulled his head off Thor’s shoulder and unwound himself mirroring Thor’s posture. “God, no. I just don’t like talking about the uglier things with you.”

“Oh.”

Bruce smiled at Thor’s guileless expression. “You deserve pretty words and positivity.”

Thor looked away and a red tint covered his ears. “I can handle dirty work I am a warrior after all.”

“You’re a rich prince with an affinity for sports which your culture deigns as warriorship. Do you want the hint or not?” Bruce said standing up and over Thor.

“No. I just don’t want to see you hurt.” Thor said grimly. Bruce held out a hand.

“Well, now you’ve lost your chance. Let’s go get some hot chocolate.”

Thor took his hand and allowed Bruce to help him up though given how Bruce wasn’t given a chance to pull it was more for show than anything else.

“You distract me with food, my friend.”

“That’s because I’m always hungry,” Bruce answered truthfully.

Thor laughed and it bounced off the sky brighter than any lightning bolt. Bruce felt something warm cover him from head to toe. Just like that Thor’s presence became something a little more…One bidding war and two more fights then he was done.

The four Fight Club members sat in Natasha and Tony’s room with a dark cloud hovering above them.

“Things are sketch,” Clint said as delightfully blunt as usual.

“Well…yeah.” Tony said. “We’ve been running a fighting ring specifically with similar rules to Fight Club in the hopes of testosterone high thugs would follow them and it’s worked for two years until last week.”

“What do we do then?” Bruce asked. Tony noticed he’d been a little more dreamy than usual. He was small and thin coming up to the height of 5’5’’ and he had nice little pouty lips so when he was dreamy they tended to part instead of purse. Tony considered dreamy Bruce peak jailbait and he wasn’t happy about. Bruce must be protected.

“We shut down. A hundred ninety k a piece is enough for eight years despite Tony’s protests.” Natasha said. “We don’t have to hold the bids tomorrow.”

Tony bit his lip. “I want so much more for you guys.”

Clint shrugged. “We don’t need to be trustfund kids, Tony.”

“200k? I thought we stopped at 100k.” Bruce asked.

“Tony said we needed enough for both university and dorms and food and rent if we didn’t live in dorms,” Clint explained pointing to fingers. “Also cars because for some reason he thinks we’re staying in California.”

“Lot’s of people live off a lot less,” Natasha said. “For a lot longer.”

“ _You_ don’t have to. That was the goal. That was my plan.”

Bruce held up his hands. “We’re going in circles what’s the plan to go forward?”

Natasha and Tony exchanged looks. “We disappear and close down.” She said.

Bruce and Clint mirrored her sentiments. Tony pushed his hands through his hair. “My fear is, that who ever is doing this isn’t trying to shut us down but instead trying to ignite violence against us. Shutting down might not stop them.”

“If we shut down then we don’t have set times and places where they can find us alone.” Natasha argued.

“We go to a school of four hundred, you don’t think that they don’t already know our schedules? We haven’t tried to hide our names. If our crowds weren’t participating in unlawful assembly’s and gambling they would have turned us in last year.” Tony said.

Natasha and Tony were in a glare off. It was broken up by Bruce.

“It could be money?”

“600k is a lot.” Clint said.

“Especially to kids who are spending their allowances and haven’t touched their funds yet,” Bruce continued for him.

Tony pointed at him. “That sounds about right.”

“Well if they want their money back,” Natasha started.

Bruce and Clint vocally protested. “Fuck that!” and “They don’t deserve shit from us.”

Natasha flicked them both in the foreheads. “They wouldn’t try to steal it because it’s all in savings accounts linked to our names. They would kidnap Tony.”

Tony laughed. “I was in the hospital and my parents didn’t even come to visit. They can not possibly think that will work.”

Natasha clenched her fist then brought it down between her crossed knees. “But if let’s say a famous technology billionaires son is hear to be at school run raids following an under ground fighting ring, is hospitalized then taken by choose-your-minority-terrorists said billionaire is going to pay not only to get his son back but to save his public image because that son is now tied to terrorists militia groups.”

“Fuck.” Tony said. The word echoed around the room.

“Stopping Fight Club won’t stop them.” Clint said. “They already have what they need.”

“Not exactly. A prefect raid that Tony get’s lost in the middle of,” Bruce said.

“ _Fuck_.” Tony said again.

“If it’s about money we can’t stop Fight Club,” Natasha said. “It’s the easiest way to find them and stop them before anyone gets actually hurt. We just need some allies.”

“ _Fuuuuuuck_.” Tony groaned. They were going to have to talk to some prefects.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chat with me. I always respond to questions.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They can't be planning a kidnapping over a couple of hundred dollars right? Right?!

Bucky was extra affectionate today. It was hard to concentrate when he was holding his ass just that way and licking the top of his mouth and… Bucky broke away. Clint took a breath. He could talk Bucky into it. He was a spy. He was cool. Smooth. James Bond. Bucky began to kiss him again and any and all plans drifted.

“Think you can go to the bid tonight incognito?” Clint asked between kisses. Smooth. He is totally James Bond. He reached for Bucky's pants.

Bucky grabbed his hands. “What?”

“We need prefects to find who's sabotaging our fights.” Clint said. He was still a little horny and it was getting worse with how much Bucky is glaring at him.

Bucky pinched the bridge of his nose. “That's like the exact opposite of our jobs.”

Clint scratched his head. “I guess? But you're like supposed to hold up house rules and you bang me and routinely break house rules. This way you get to help your fellow students stay safe.”

Bucky as per usual looks at Clint the same way Clint looks at his algebra homework. “Okay. Moving on. How would I be “incognito” and furthermore what in the fuck would I be looking for?”

Clint scooted closer so he was on Bucky's lap, excited. “Okay so, like we were talking it out and like Natasha is like ninety percent sure that Tonys going to be kidnapped.”

Bucky let out a deep beleaguered sigh. “Let me go get, Steve.”

“Good more prefects helping us the better, people listen to you guys,” Clint said sliding off of Bucky's lap to let him get up.

Natasha blinked in the face of the three prefects and a smiling Clint. She had surrounded herself with stupid assholes. Sam looked apologetic, Steve looked angry, and Bucky…looked exactly as done with this as her.

She sighed and opened the door to let all of them file in. Tony jerked awake and Bruce rolled out from under his bed fists up.

“Banner?” Sam asked in disbelief.

Tony stood up and gently pushed Bruce behind him he looked around their company to Natasha who was closing the door behind them. She shrugged. She too did not want to be awoken at nine a.m in the morning either. Steve pushed through so he was in front of Tony.

“Kidnapping?” Steve asked.

Natasha pushed her way to the front and stood next to Tony. She had a feeling he needed her to help him carry this.

“Sit down, kids. I guess were going to have to have a conversation.”

Tony rubbed his temples. “Fight Club is a betting ring that funds student’s tuition and future tuitions. You guys didn’t even know it existed until literally three months ago. Last week was the first time someone broke ranks and tried to beat me bloody.”

Steve and the two other prefects sat on one end of the room and Tony’s two best friends and the one who has been written out of his will sat on his bed.

“That’s what happened?” Steve asked.

“Stane can’t masturbate for the next month so over all I have to say I won.” Tony said.

“That was you?” Bucky.

Tony shrugged and Clint and Natasha patted his back. “The one and only.”

Steve took another deep breath. “Okay. So you think someone's trying to kidnap Tony and you want us to intervene?”

“Well yeah.” Clint said.

“Why?” Sam asked. “From my perspective you’ve kept things under control.”

The edge to the sarcastic comment clipped through. Tony flinched and had a small pang of pain hit his head. He stood up.

“Well one,” Tony said counting on his fingers, “Fuck you. Two, we’ve been running this for two fucking years so, yes we did have everything under control. It’s just whoever the fuck thought it was a good idea to give the pervert TA from hell a roll of quarters to beat me with is an unknown and I know everything. Three—” Tony reached for his garbage bin and vomited.

Natasha patted his back. Tony kept his head in the bin for too long embarrassed. He looked up. His vision blurred and he wiped his mouth and slowly regained his visage of being collected. Steve had the crinkle in his brow that made him look like a sad dog outside a window. Sam was looking at Bucky who was looking at Clint who was looking out the window. Bruce stood up.

“Don’t worry,” he said pushing up his sleeves and showing off his scrawny arms. “Me and Tony have nearly the same schedule.”

All three of the prefects turned and looked Bruce up and down. Tony took him by the shoulder and awkwardly turned him around so their backs were to the prefects. “Look, my dear friend. You can be my body guard but that’s a last resort kind of deal, we are trying preventative measures.”

“All they’ve done since coming in is doubt and belittle us,” Bruce whispered back.

“We’ve been shitting in their backyard for the last couple of months.” Tony answered.

Bruce looked over their shoulders at the three other boys. “I don’t like them.”

Tony shrugged. “You don’t have to. You just have to tutor Bucky and Thor and then graduate.”

“Fine,” Bruce sighed.

They turned around as one. Whatever noise in the room died with their attention.

“Are you going to help or not?” Tony asked.

Steve licked his lips thinking. “Yeah, I’ll help just give me as much information on your regulars as possible.”

Tony and Natasha shared a look. “Fine.”

Steve was lying on the floor of Tony and Natasha’s dorm room with his hands over his eyes. Tony had fallen asleep while his little crew of fighter slowly released information on nearly every high ranking student, professor, and personnel, in the entire school. Natasha bragged about how her teacher wanted to fight her to relieve whatever sexual tension they had for her. She broke their nose before they even had a chance to jerk off. It was one of the teachers Steve thought was a good person. Apparently everyone in this school was the worst human being in the world.

“Any of those sound like potential kidnappers?” Clint asked having finishing his one tale of a soccer player stealing his aids and then being beaten to a pulp in the ring.

“I don’t know, but now we have a very long list—”

“Of a hundred and twenty,” Sam said staring at the piece of paper he’d been taking notes on.

“ _Of_ ,” Steve continued, “people who know and like us and will speak to us.”

Natasha laid back her hands behind her head. “Great. Leave.”

Steve pushed himself up. “Okay.”

Sam and Bucky follow him out. The door to the dorm slams shut behind them. Steve stops walking and wrapped an arm around Bucky’s neck.

“So how long were you going to keep Barton’s secret?” Steve said.

“I’ve only been dating him for like a week.”

“That’s bull, Barnes, everyone and their mothers know you guys fuck behind the bleachers every chance you get,” Sam snapped.

Bucky shoved Steve away and then fixed his hair. “Fucking, Clint and his stupid exhibitionist kink.” Bucky muttered.

Steve and Sam backed him against a wall.

“Bucky,” Steve said.

“Fine! Forever! If you want to talk to a prefect who’s actually participated, I’d talk to T’Challa.” Bucky snarled.

Sam and Steve shared a look. T’Challa?

T’Challa laughed when they asked. “You Americans so ignorant.”

Thor sat in a corner of their room watching with his brow’s furrowed listening to their conversation.

“Of course, I participated, the little one with the glasses is absolutely brutal.” T’Challa continued pulling on his shirt for bed.

Sam crossed his arms and Thor leaned in closer. Steven, Samuel, and James all wandered into their dorm and began asking vague questions about the underground fighting ring. Thor had a feeling he knew who T’Challa was talking about.

“So, we’ve heard,” Steven said. “Do you know anyone in the school who might want to permanently harm Stark?”

T’Challa tilted his head and thought for a moment. “Everyone?”

Steve rolled his eyes. “We’ve already figured that.”

T’Challa leaned in. “His little gang has at leas three million dollars in profit.”

Thor felt the tension in the room shift rapidly.

“They told us they just made it to 600k.” Steve said.

T’Challa shrugged. “I paid three grand to have a chance to fight Bruce. If he’s been making ten to fifteen grand a week on bets alone.... It adds up. That was last year it has gotten bigger, I’m sure.”

Steve tongued his cheek and turned to Bucky. Thor sat back. T’Challa paid to fight Bruce of Banner. Everyone knew… Why? T’Challa was an excellent fighter choosing to fence as his sport of choice. He could break Bruce in half.

“Tony’s been stealing the money?” Sam said.

Steve scrubbed his face. “Or he’s been squirreling it away with out telling them for some reason.”

Bucky fell on the bed next to Thor. “Why did we decide to involve ourselves in this? I mean, I’m mostly waiting for my acceptance letter from Berkley and trying to make sure I don’t fail McCargo’s shitty final exam.”

“Whose dick is involved in this?” Sam asked tapping his chin.

Bucky threw Thor’s pillow at him and T’Challa chuckled. “You have gotten yourselves into quite a bit of trouble haven’t you?”

“Yeah.” Sam said with a shrug.

“I’ll help. These last few months have been very boring and I needed something to spice things up.” T’Challa said. “I’ll ask some of my friends who are in the know as you would say.”

“Thank you.” Steve said. He grabbed Bucky by his shirt and pulled him off the bed. “We appreciate it very much.”

T’Challa sat down on his bed and opened a comic book. “It is not a problem.”

Steve, Sam and Bucky left leaving the room quieter than usual.

“So…” Thor started awkwardly. “Bruce?”

T’Challa raised an eyebrow over his comic. “Yes?”

“He fights.”

T’Challa smiled and returned to his book. “Thor, you and I are magnificent fighters, but we will never be as dangerous as someone who fights with nothing to lose.”

Thor laid down fully along his bed staring up at the ceiling and digesting that.

Sam saw Natasha the next day outside in the quad reading a book and sucking down a smoothie. His legs moved before his brain caught up. She was probably the prettiest girl he’d ever seen. Though she might be the only girl he’s seen since he went home during winter break. Still…her sharp green eyes looked at him and twitched. Sam smiled. Gingers, he’s always had a thing for gingers.

“Hey,” he said sliding in across from her.

“Do you have more information?” She said closing her book. _The Troop_. She’d listened to him.

“Yeah, you’re not going to like it.” Sam said still smiling. “You read my book?”

“It’s disgusting.” She said. “The information please?”

“You’re enjoying it.”

“I want to vomit. Sam, the information?”

“T’Challa estimated that Tony should have made at least a couple of million by now.”

Natasha’s eyebrows reached her hair line. “What.”

“Apparently the two to five hundred you’ve been told you’ve been making is more like twenty to fifty grand.”

Natasha’s face broke. Sam felt a horrible pang of guilt as her expression opened into shock and sadness.

“I’ll talk to him.” She said standing up and roughly grabbing her book.

Sam caught her hand. “I’m sure he has a good reason.”

Natasha jerked her hand away. “You don’t even like him, so don’t talk like you know him.”

Tony was still in bed head down staring at the eightieth episode of Parks and Rec he’s seen. He felt better but he was bored and tired and scared. He might have been drooling. He missed being in class and staring at Rodgers, or sending notes to Bruce, or editing text books with his theories or accurate depictions of the USA. Instead he was stuck in bed waiting for his week to be done with so he could limp from class to class.

His dorm room door banged open. Tony looked over his shoulder and nodded at Natasha before returning to his show. Natasha slammed his laptop closed. Tony followed her arm up to her eyes. He sat up.

“What’s up?”

“You’ve been lying to us.” She said.

Tony’s brain shifted through the hundreds of balls he juggled on a day to day basis and couldn’t for the life of him find the one she was talking about.

“About what?”

“The money.”

Tony’s stomach dropped. “Oh.”

“You’ve been profiting off of us.” She snarled.

Tony bit his lip and turned to his bed side drawer and pulled out three notebooks. He held out the one labeled Natasha. He grabbed Clint and Bruce and tossed them on her bed.

“Here’s the money.” Tony said curling up on himself.

Natasha looked between him and the notebook before opening it up. She read a little and then looked between him and the notebook again before pulling out her phone and typing on it for a minute or two. Then she dropped her phone.

“What. The. Fuck.”

“I’d fix the bets by placing my monthly allowances on the opponents.” Tony said. “It blew up way to fast and we had reached our goal right around the time…” Tony couldn’t finish it. None of these people would talk to him again. He liked them. They only stayed with him because he was paying them. That’s the reason anyone’s stayed.

“Tony.” Natasha said slumping down on the bed next to him. “If I’m correct this is about three million dollars stolen from our peers and teachers.”

Tony still couldn’t answer, he was waiting for her to leave. They always did.

“No wonder they want to fucking murder you.” Natasha sighed.

Tony shrugged. Natasha stayed were she was but pulled out her phone and called up both Clint and Bruce.

Bruce and Clint burst in silently and took the notebooks from Natasha. Then repeated the process of looking between their phones and Tony. Bruce and Clint next to Tony. It was very quiet for a very long time. 

“Why?” Clint asked.

Tony turned to look at him. Clint was looking at his hands. “Why? I don’t get it. If you were giving us all the money anyway, why keep it a secret that we surpassed our original goal.”

Tony curled further into himself. “You guys wouldn’t hang out with me.” He said quietly.

“What. The. Fuck.” Natasha said again.

“Everyone leaves once they get what they want. None of you talked to me until I told you I could make you money.” Tony said picking at the buckles on his boot.

Bruce put a hand on his knee. “Tony, you’re the only person who talked to me in any of my classes.”

“You didn’t come over until money was involved, Clint didn’t even know my name until I told him he could beat the shit out of Conner and make money off of it, and me and Natasha have been roommates for four years and she didn’t actually interact with me until after that first fight.” Tony hid his face behind his legs. “I didn’t want my friends to leave.”

“Tony, you stupid arrogant rich motherfucker,” Natasha said wrapping an arm around Tony. “We will still talk to you even if you’re not our boss.”

Tony looked up at her. “Yeah?”

“Of fucking course.” Bruce snapped. “I mean I would have liked to have known before hand so we could have stopped before people decided to try and murder you.”

Clint slapped Bruce on the back and nodded in agreement. “Of course, dude. I almost lost my best fuck buddy for you. I would totally hang with you after high school.”

“Aw guys,” Tony said feeling choked up.

“See,” Natasha said, “you’ve got friends. Real friends.”

Bruce and Clint wrapped arms around him in a big group hug.

Tony sniffed. “Thanks.”

“Don’t cry it’ll make it awkward,” Clint said still hugging him.

Two days before the auction had all of them sitting in Tony’s room. Steve was flipping through pages of notes and Tony was playing Among Us on his phone. He had decided that there was no way to get through this without punching something.

“You have no idea who wants to murder you?”

“I have an idea I just can’t narrow it down.” Tony continued. He was the imposter. Everyone was fucked on this spaceship.

“Neither can we.” Sam said throwing up the papers.

“It must be among us.” Tony said then laughed at his own joke.

Steve sighed. “Who has Tony stolen the most money from?”

“Stane,” Natasha said.

“Cross,” Clint said.

“Blonsky,” Bruce said.

“Hammer,” Tony said winning his game of Among us.

T’Challa scratched his chin. “That’s four different corners of the school.”

“Teaching, Academics, Sports and Janitorial.” Sam said.

Steve turned to look at Tony. “Did you have to fuck over everyone you’ve ever met?”

“Yep,” Tony said popping the ‘p’. He started another game of Among Us.

Steve grabbed his phone and tossed it over his shoulder.

“Hey!”

“We are all doing this for you the least you can do is pay attention.” Steve snapped.

Tony rolled his eyes. “Leave it, Steve. I’m going to get kidnapped, and then I’m going to take over daddy’s business and be an amazing CEO.”

Steve stayed very still catching Tony’s eyes. Blue met brown and Tony couldn’t hold his flippant disregard anymore. “I thought you wanted to be president.”

Tony swallowed. “Yes.”

“You’re going to be president, you stupid rich kid.” Steve said pulling away.

Tony watched him leave and realized he would die before letting Steve’s plans for him fail. Cool. That’s new. He also has an ass that wouldn’t quit.

“They are all working together,” Thor said and Tony was broken out of love struck reverie.

The room turned to him.

“I heard Hammer talking with Stane about how unmanageable Blonsky was in the hallway this morning.” Thor continued unaware of all the eyes on him folding a paper airplane. “Cross told me that he was about to go on an adventure.”

He looked up from his paper airplane and met everyone’s eyes. “What? I’m foreign, people think I do not know what’s happening.”

T’Challa tilted his head in acknowledgement. “They did the same before I became a prefect.”

Thor tossed the paper airplane to T’Challa. “People also think I am too stupid to pick up on nuance.”

“That’s rude.” Bruce said.

Thor beamed at him. “Aye, Bruce of Banner, that it is.”

Steve and Tony stood up. “During the auction we’re going to have a masquerade.” Tony said.

“We’ll all be there following our perspective targets.”

Tony pointed to Bucky, “You’re our eye in the sky looking for suspicious behavior.”

Steve pointed to Sam, “You’re watching Hammer.”

Tony tapped his chin. “Thor you’re on Stane.”

Steve looked at Tony. Tony gestured minutely at T’Challa. Steve jerked his head at Bruce. Tony shook it.

“T’Challa is going to watching Cross.”

“I’ll be watching Blonsky?” Steve asked.

“You’ve seen him, right?”

“Yeah…oh.”

Blonsky was a large piece of meat covered in muscle who probably took steroids. There were only two students in the room that were even close to his size and one of them was watching Stane another pile of beef covered in muscles. Steve nodded.

“Good choice.”

Tony tilted his head in acknowledgement. “Well, let’s go.”

Clint was slipping in and out of locker rooms getting groped and poked as he dropped some hints about where the next fight club was going to be. He batted his eye lashes at Fisk who slapped his ass a little too hard and ran right into Bucky. They smirked at each other. Bucky grabbed Clint’s arm and dragged him out behind the bleachers.

“Hey,” he said nosing Clint’s neck.

“Hey,” Clint responded dragging his hands down Bucky’s back.

“You trying to make me jealous,” Bucky murmured marking Clint’s neck.

“I’m selling myself.” Clint leaned in to kiss Bucky.

“Last one?” Bucky asked dropping to his knees.

Clint grinned down at him. “Fuck yeah, I’m a millionaire baby.”

Bucky smirked and opened Clint’s fly. The conversation admittedly became one sided after that.

Sam and Natasha looked through the stairs and seats of the bleachers and watched the idiots fornicate. Natasha gagged and got up, Sam was already trying to bleach his brain and staggered after her.

“Disgusting,” she said still miming vomiting.

“I will never unsee Bucky,” Sam whined.

“Idiots.” Natasha said laughing.

Sam looked at her like the world spun just so she could exist. “Yeah.” He had never heard or seen her laugh before.

Natasha looked at him and then took his hand. “Tony’s all the way in Berkley today for one of his college courses.”

Sam squeezed her hand. “Yeah?”

“I think second base is a good goal.” She said dragging him along. “We need to override the memories.”

Sam grinned and only let out a lazy, “yeah,” as he followed in her afterglow.

Thor sat next to Bruce during lunch and then scooted closer. Bruce looked up at him and then stuffed his face with mashed potatoes. Thor smiled and took a bite of his food. Bruce scooted closer so their legs touched. That was enough for them.

The auction was set up relatively easily and people wandered in late. Which was the usual. Tony and the others sat on their stage which was just a lot of mats stacked up on top of each other stolen from the sports storage room. Clint was lazily doing flips. Bruce was reading Hawkins. Natasha was tossing a ball up and down in the air and Tony was rolling his ankle for the first time in a week.

Wow. He really fucked up his leg. He should really wear the boot. Nope. He needed to look too okay. Much too okay. Even with him missing a week of classes he needed to look in perfect health. Even with his healing bruises around his jaw.

Tony rolled his shoulders and checked how many students had joined them in the sound proofed orchestra room. Enough.

He nudged Bruce with his foot and stood. Natasha threw the ball over her head getting up too, and Clint stopped bending backwards long enough to whistle loudly. Their crowd of masked students turned going silent.

“You know how this goes,” Tony called over them walking across their stage back and forth in front of the goods. “We as a student body know that this is the last auction we can do! Unfortunately do to last weeks incident, I can’t participate.” A series of boo’s aroused from the crowd. “But! The lovely Natasha will take my place. She will be sold twice.” An interested murmur erupted. “Now lets start with everyone’s favorite twink, Clint. The starting number is 20.”

Tony jeered the crowd and raised the numbers Clint left with five hundred. Bruce left with a grand and Natasha was sold once for six hundred and then for the second while Tony roused the crowd shouting and talking a bang cut off all noise.

Tony took a step back. Something struck him. He touched his abdomen. It was slick.

“I’ve been shot.”

“Call 911!” Natasha screamed.

The lights went out and there was a thud as something heavy hit the mats. Someone pulled out their phone and lit up the objects face.

“Bucky! Babe!” Clint yelled dropping to his knees.

Tony was floating above the world. He was so high. So above. So…

“It’s very dark,” Tony said as something brushed his shoulders. The next thing he knew he was being pulled up and over someone’s shoulders.

“I’m being kidnapped,” Tony said aloud his vision…he thinks was clouding over but he recognized the feeling of consciousness slowly leaving.

“Even shot the fucker won’t show up.” Stane grunted just before Tony’s eyes rolled back in his head and he was out.


	4. Chapter 4

Steve had called T’Challa who was already turning on the lights for him. He tried to keep track of the chaos, but someone had punched him awkwardly in the side. Steve caught the next fist and threw it away. It was moments. Maybe. Maybe longer. But the lights flickered on and Steve found himself in the middle of an all-out brawl. He hopped over students pushing his way through. He couldn’t see Tony. What the fuck happened? He reached the stage and met with Sam and Thor. Bucky was held close to Clint with a bloody nose. No sign of Tony. Shit. The image of Tony holding a hand covered in blood to his face and looking mildly disappointed by the whole in his abdomen.

Christ. This was a clusterfuck. He needed to think.

“Clint! Bucky! Outside checking the fences by the forest!” Bucky and Clint popped up and Clint ran straight toward the windows away from the straight up fight happening in front of them. Bucky followed and the two of them had the windows open and were gone in moments.

“Natasha!” Steve shouted. “Someone in this room must know where they’re taking him.”

Natasha’s eyes went from wide and distant to focused on him. “Bruce.”

Bruce’s hands were in his hair and he was pulling hard. “What?!”

“Let go.” She said quietly. She grabbed his face. “You need to let go.”

“But…” Bruce glanced at Thor and back.

“Do you want to find Tony?”

“Yeah, but…”

“You’re the only one who will part that crowd like the red sea.”

Bruce’s pupils dilated. “Let go.”

“Go.”

Bruce jumped off the mats and slammed into the ground palms flat with a scream. Steve stepped back and so did Sam and Thor.

“What’s he going to do?” Steve asked.

“Follow him. He’ll get your answers. Me and Sam will check the front of the school.” Natasha said stepping down with no other information. Steve and Thor looked at each other and shrugged following behind Bruce.

Bruce’s palms stung and he was seeing red. Something smacked against the side of his head. His fists went to the first flash of person he could see, and he punched and punched until something hit his back.

He turned and kicked them and then jumped on that guy. He thinks he’s screaming words. He’s not sure. The student under him isn’t moving so he gets up and walks forward shoving and pushing anyone and thing in his way. Someone elbows his ribs and Bruce bloodies their nose and hears their scream. He continues pushing through, but people are starting to avoid him, his vision was still red around the edges. Blonsky stepped into his line of sight and cracked his knuckles.

“Banner.” He said his thick Russian accent. Bruce was beyond introductions. He said something. Maybe. Bruce ran at his abdomen aiming his head at Blonsky’s diaphragm. Blonsky’s breath rushed out but he caught Bruce’s sides. Bruce rammed a knee up and under aiming for his balls. He hit something because Bronsky’s grip loosened and Bruce was able to kick a knee out from him knocking him on his ass. He was finally with in Bruce’s reach. Bruce gripped his hair and began punching and punching. Someone hit him with a pipe from behind. Bruce saw that their arm was close to his face and bit into him. He dragged the arm back so he could continue to punch Blonsky. Blonsky punched him in his diaphram and Bruce released the arm. Blonsky hit him again and Bruce bit his cheek. Blonsky went to hit him one more time but Bruce spat blood in his face and his hands went up to wipe. Bruce began punching again.

“Where’s Tony?” someone screamed and screamed and screamed.

“In the basement.” Blonsky shouted back his voice clogged with blood and snot.

Bruce’s arm stopped. He got it. Was he the one screaming? Bruce let go of Blonsky’s hair. He spat on the floor next to the other boy. Blonsky was still screaming information. Bruce couldn’t really hear him. He checked his surroundings. There were a lot of scared kids. Fisk was holding a bleeding arm to his chest. Bruce spat again. He couldn’t see through one eye. He touched his forehead and felt the viscousness of blood.

He looked around again and saw Thor and Steve.

“What are you doing?” Bruce shouted. “You know were he is!”

Steve nodded and ran. Thor stayed. Watching him curiously. The crowd disbursed until it was just them.

“What?” Bruce said his legs giving out. Thor walked over to kneel by him.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m in pain.”

“I can tell.”

“I’m so angry.”

“I’ve known that for a long while Bruce of Banner.”

Bruce leaned into him and Thor wrapped his arms around him. “I want to sleep.”

Thor picked him up gently. “Let’s clean your wounds first, fierce warrior.”

“Okay,” Bruce said meekly leaning into Thor’s warm chest.

Thor kissed the top of his head. “Good.”

Tony awoke with a jolt of pain.

“Did you have to shoot his abdomen?” some whined.

“So what? We’ll send his dad a dead body once we get the money?”

“Who said that this was a good idea?” another person said bitchily.

“Ya’ll shot me,” Tony slurred. He was somewhere but his vision kept going in and out and he was having trouble telling if it was him closing his eyes or a lightbulb flickering or death.

“How can he talk?” Whiny—Hammer said.

“Pure luck,” Tony gargled, then laughed.

Something smacked across his face. “Shut the fuck up,” Stane snapped.

“You’re kidnapping me!” Tony giggled.

“We need to leave.” Cross snapped.

“He’ll die if we move him!” Hammer said.

Stane grabbed his arms and Tony groaned. “I don’t think they care you little bitch.” Tony gasped as he was hauled over Stane’s shoulder.

Hammer cupped his chin. “Okay.”

Tony lifted his head enough to spit on him. Stane jostled him and Tony let out a cry of pain before laughing again. Hammer was making such a funny expression.

Cross punched him across the face and he lost consciousness once more.

Clint and Bucky were standing in the middle of the woods arguing when they saw the group leave the school.

“Are you sure you checked the gate?”

“I’m not the one who got my ass kicked, Buckers, that was you! Of course, I checked the gate.”

“Why do you have to be a standoffish bitch every time I ask a question?”

“Why do you have to… they’re over there.” 

Bucky turned around his back hitting Clint’s chest. Bucky was becoming uncomfortably aware of how their arguments usually led to sex.

“Oh fuck I think you’re right!”

“We should call Steve,” Clint said jumping up to grab a branch. Bucky groped himself.

“I don’t have my phone.”

Clint flipped a baseball sized branch in his hand. “I broke mine last week climbing that tree.”

“Shit.”

“Don’t worry babe,” Clint said aiming. “I got this.”

“What?” Bucky said finally catching onto what Clint’s plan was. “Hey!” Clint leaned back. “No!” Clint threw the stick.

Steve entered an empty basement. He scanned and found a trail of blood. He followed it out the door and saw only the back of the school and a line of trees. He opened up his phone and began jogging.

“What?” Sam answered.

“Back of the school,” Steve said.

“On it.” Sam said then hung up.

Steve picked up the pace and heard rustling in the trees and the sound of Bucky yelling. Steve stopped and listened. There was a thwack followed by several curses. Steve ran in that direction and found a kid holding his head.

“I got hit with a fucking stick!” the kid cried.

Steve’s eyes scanned the area and found two bodies strewn across the ground.

“Shut the fuck up, Cross,” one of the bodies grumbled. “That might’ve actually killed him.”

Steve moved past cross and kicked the moving body over. It grunted and felt more like plywood than flesh. Steve crouched by the other body flipping it over to find Tony.

“911.” Steve said shrugging off his jacket and putting over Tony’s bullet wound.

“The fuck?” Stane grunted.

“Clint you fucking idiot,” Bucky said and punched Stane in his shaved skull.

“How,” Clint kicked and Cross grunted, “was. I. Supposed. To. Know.” Clint finished each word with a boot.

“I don’t know, Clint, possibly the gunshot wound and the as you said, ‘sack of potatoes’ on one guys shoulder,” Bucky said kicking Stane over.

Steve felt Tony’s forehead. It was so cold and clammy. He slapped his face trying to get him to wake up. His eyes fluttered open.

“I won’t be able to eat…” Tony muttered.

Steve didn’t respond. There was more movement of trees. Steve prayed it was the paramedics. Hammer walked through holding a gun.

“Aw, man,” Steve said looking down the barrel. “I should have stayed at the local high school and been a football god.”

Tony let out a choked gargle sob. Steve realized he was laughing. “Shut up or you’re never going to eat again.”

“Steve,” Tony said through bloody teeth.

A gunshot went off and all the students flinched. Except for Tony who’s eyes rolled back in his head and started seizing.

“Give me the body, Rogers.” Hammer said lowering the gun from the sky.

Sirens broke the silence.

“I think you should cut your losses.” Steve said.

“Hrm…No. I may be surrounded by idiots,” Hammer said looking at his cohorts. “But I paid off the police before starting this little stunt.”

“He’s going to die.”

“Parents want a body.”

“That’s nasty dude,” Clint said.

“Time and place, Clint.” Bucky sighed.

Hammer shot by him and Clint screamed. Steve didn’t move. The sirens got closer.

“Look, I didn’t sign up for whatever rich kid shit this is.” Steve said. “I just know that the paramedics are nearby and this little scheme is going to be over.”

Hammer sighed and dropped the gun next to Stane. Stane grabbed the gun.

“Idiot,” four of the seven said out of sync.

“Wha…”

They were covered in flashlights and the authorities took over.

Epilogue

“ _And I repeat what the fuck happened?!”_ Principal Fury screeched over the microphones. “I’m gone for a weekend in Tahoe and I come back to a fucking clusterfuck.”

Bruce leaned over Steve to whisper to Thor. “I don’t think he’s allowed to curse that much.”

Thor shrugged and continued to lean and listen.

“Our goddamn security team left the property, a student was shot, a TA arrested for attempted man slaughter and so much blood, not even _Dexter_ could cover that shit up.”

Steve was dozing off. He hadn’t slept since Friday night and it was Monday at six am. He was not prepared to be yelled at along with his peers this early in the morning. Natasha would gently prop his head up occasionally so he wouldn’t be caught. Sam was in the same state but he was hiding on the steps between bleachers sleeping in a small pile with Clint and Bucky.

“Starting, right the fuck now, Assistant Principal Maria Hill has created a hand selected security team that can not legally be bought off by you dumb rich motherfuckers. None, of the shit that happened this weekend will happen again!”

Principal Fury put a hand over his eye and muttered intelligibly into the microphones before handing it off to Assistant Principal Hill. She was a lot more usual school administration authority, and thus a whole hell of a lot less interesting. Steve knocked out on Thor’s shoulder and only jostled awake when Bruce fell onto him also dead asleep.

Natasha had to shake all three of them awake once the school meeting was over. They were having a break day so that the school staff could have the same meeting of being yelled at and shamed. The seven of them walked out to edge of the forest and sat against one of the large redwoods.

“How’s he doing,” Sam asked picking at a dandelion.

“Unconscious.” Natasha said.

“He texted me yesterday.” Steve said around a yawn. He couldn’t feel everyone’s eyes on him. “He said his near death experience caused him to have an epiphany and he asked me for my hand in marriage.”

“What’d you say?” Bucky asked.

Steve laid down on the cool grass. “He’d have to take me on a date and become a senator first.”

His eyes fluttered shut and he felt a surging wave of drowsiness cover him.

“What’d he say,” Natasha asked.

“He’d have to graduate, and quit fight club, I guess.” Steve said on a snore. He fell asleep. Ready to wake up later and visit his boyfriend in the ICU he guessed.

**Author's Note:**

> I based Bruce in all human au's almost completely off of Bean from Enders Game. Google it and don't give Orson Scott Card money.


End file.
